I have to admit, I feel somewhat called out by the Lord in this Gospel this morning. Being judgmental is something that so many of us, myself included, struggle with on occasion. That particular vice is one that can be very challenging to overcome. Why is that?

In terms of being judgmental, that sin usually rears its head when we see someone doing something that we don’t like or something that we disagree with. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing to recognize that someone is doing something wrong with regards to morality or virtue. But why do we allow that to lead us to offering a judgment about that person? That’s what we have to ask the Lord. Where is that sin coming from? Why do we allow someone’s actions to affect how much we love and care for that person?

The reality is…people sin. People make mistakes. Sometimes people just do things that are stupid. But we can’t let those things determine how much dignity and worth a person receives. And when we are offering a judgment on someone, that’s exactly what happens. Our brothers and sisters, those we encounter in our families or in our friend groups, or even those who are total strangers are not the sum of their choices and their mistakes – they’re children of God, sons and daughters of the Father.

We will never understand fully why someone commits sins or makes mistakes or does stupid things. We can never know the full story of a human heart. We don’t know the wounds, the scars, the blind spots, and the countless other factors that go together to lead someone to make a particular choice. Only God can see into the depths of a human heart.

So today, let’s ask the Lord for an outpouring of His grace to give us a little more compassion on our brothers and sisters that we judge. Maybe even call to mind someone that we have judged recently and ask the Lord for a spiritual vision to see what was going on in that person’s heart and to love them as He loves all of us. All of us need a little sense of compassion from time to time. Let’s go out and show that to others today.

Image: The Sermon on the Mountain by Arsène Robert (1870) in Église Saint-Martin de Castelnau-d’Estrétefonds. This object is inscrit Monument Historique in the base Palissy, database of the French furniture patrimony of the French ministry of culture, under the reference IM31000073. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Wikimedia Commons.